25 1-26 That's Not Fair WHy Jacob's Descendants Own All The Land Of Israel

liberty bible church 3/30/08 P.M.

By Tom Zobrist

“That’s Not Fair”

Why Jacob’s descendants own all the land of Israel

Genesis 25:1-26

introduction

Illus. of give a piece of candy to all the kids. Give a bag to one of them. Is this not fair? If I choose to make one special, why is that not fair? I didn’t have to give candy to any, did I? “That’s not fair” is a part of our culture today, but it wasn’t in the days of Abraham. God thinks differently than we do. He gives to whom He wills and takes from whom He wills. Who are we to say that He’s “not fair.” Yet that’s what we hear in relation to what is happening in Israel today. We hear statements like, “It’s not fair that the Jews are in the land. It doesn’t belong to them. The Palestinians were there first.” None of these statements are Biblically true.

OPEN to passage.

Prop. In this passage, we see why the Jews belong in and own the land of Israel.

Open in PRAYER.

PREVIEW the passage. Last we saw God provide a bride for Isaac. Sarah had died and Isaac was comforted with his new wife. Cf. 24:61-67 What about…

i. abraham’s other sons vs. 1-18

Illus. of “What Money Can’t Buy” A minister was speaking to the Sunday School about what money can’t buy. “It can’t buy laughter and it can’t buy love,” he told them. Driving his point home he said, “What would you do if I gave you $1000 to stop loving your mother and father?” Stunned silence followed. Finally a small voice queried, “How much would you give me to stop loving my sister?” This may be a cute story, but not all families get along too well and this is not all that far from the truth. This was certainly true in Abraham’s household. Here we see what happened to his other sons. First…

a. abraham marries again

V 1 1. We’re not sure when this happened, but the grammar indicates that it was after Sarah’s death. Abraham lived at least 37 years after Sarah died. 1 Chronicles 1:32 tells us that she was actually a concubine. Concubines were servant girls who were also wives, but held a lower social class.

V 2-4 2. Tribes in Sheba and Dedan and Midianites all came from Abraham. This was a continued fulfillment of God’s promises to Abraham that he would be the father of many nations. Cf. 12:2; 17:4

b. Abraham’s last will and testament

In these times, the will was read (or stated) when they were alive.

V 5 1. Isaac was that “unique” son of Abraham being born to an older wife in his old age. Obviously the miracle was with Sarah who was barren, as well as old. He was considered the first-born of Abraham and was given the whole of Abraham’s blessing. This is the blessing, the covenant promise that God had given Abraham. Isaac now was the bearer of that promise.

V 6a 2. Abraham loved all his sons and gave gifts to them as well. Concubines is plural here indicating that perhaps he had children with others, but we have no record of them.

V 6b 3. They and or their descendants could pose of threat to Isaac and his inheritance, so like Ishmael back in chapter 21, Abraham sends them away to their own area. This would preserve Isaac’s right as Abrahams’ sole heir. This was all done before Abraham died so that there was no questions or disputes after his death. Although we still have some today.

c. Abraham’s death and burial

V 7 1. Abraham lived to be 175 years old. Isaac would have been 75 years old, so his twins had been born 15 years by this time, even though we have not yet read the account.

V 8-10 2. Ishmael and Isaac are able to come together to bury their father alongside Sarah in the cave Abraham had purchased when she had died.

V 11 3. Ishmael posed no threat to Isaac at this point. God’s blessing was on Isaac and he dwelt at Beer Lahai Roi. “Well of the One who lives and sees me.” This was where God had heard Hagar when she was pregnant and delivered her back in chapter 16. This is where Isaac meditated as he waited for his future wife. God had been known to answer prayer here and it was here that Isaac now lived. Abraham was gone, but God’s blessings would continue through Isaac. His other sons were sent away to assure that there would be no interference with the transfer of the blessing.

d. Ishmael’s Descendants

V 12- 1. Ishmael had 12 sons they were all princes, leaders of their people. They lived in the Arabian Peninsula

18 between Beersheba and Egypt. The Ishmaelites were hostile toward all of their brethren which fulfills what God told Hagar in 16:12.

2. Ishmael died at the age of 137.

Trans. Those are ABRAHAM’S OTHER SONS. It may not seem fair, but they are sent away and Isaac receives the blessings from Abraham. Now, the book of Genesis focuses on…

ii. abraham’s unique son vs. 19-26

Illus. of “Recommendation” This was not true for Isaac. He was needed to pass on Abraham’s bloodline. We see that done, once again miraculously here.

a. like father like son

This will become even more true in the weeks ahead as we study Isaac and some of his adventures.

V 19-20 1. We pick up here where we left off back in 24:67.

V 21 2. Isaac and Rebekah had a similar problem that Abraham and Sarah had. They could have no children. For 20 years they could have no children. But then God blessed them with a child and not just one, but twins.

V 22 3. Rebekah sensed that there was a problem with the pregnancy. So, she asked of god and this is what she was told.

V 23 4. What she was told is what we know now to be history. Two nations were struggling inside of her and the older shall serve the younger. Jacob’s descendants of course is Israel and Esau’s became the Edomites. Those two fought continuously. The fact that God elected the younger over the older went against the natural order.

V 24 5. Indeed, when she delivered, there were twins. That’s when we see…

b. what’s in a name?

V 25 1. The name Esau has a connection to the word Seir, the early name for Edom southwest of the Dead Sea, where Esau later lived. The Hebrew word for red, admoni, (Adam) is related to the word Edom, and hairy is similar to Seir. As you can see, those names were chosen to describe the nature of this child.

V 26a 2. The parents knew that the older would serve the younger and in view of what happened here at the birth, they gave him an appropriate name. In Hebrew, Jacob is similar in sound to the word for heel. Jacob also means “one who grabs the heel or trips up.” Given Jacob’s penchant for deception, this name would have a profound meaning for Jacob later.

V 26b 3. Once again, it was 20 years before Isaac and Rebekah could have a child. We stop there for tonight.

conclusion

We’ve see ABRAHAM’S OTHER SONS, sent away so that Isaac can receive the blessings from Abraham. And then there was ABRAHAM’S UNIQUE SON, favored by God to be the son of promise. Unlike his father, who at one time took matters into his own hands to receive the promises of God, prays to God and sees God supply two sons miraculously. One, Jacob, would become the one through whom the promises of God would be carried on. What can we learn from this?

1. God’s program to bless the world must continue from generation to generation. We all must do all we can to ensure the ongoing of God’s work. That is making disciples of God’s unique Son. GOSPEL

2. We need be committed to prayer when we are facing the impossible, like Isaac.

3. Trust God to work the impossible. He still changes hearts today. We have seen that God likes to reverse the natural order at times. His ways are not man’s ways.

Illus. of EU position on the Middle East Peace Process. Who decides what’s “fair?” God already has, 4,000 years ago. It’s not up to us to adjust His decision to make it fair.

Abraham’s descendants through Isaac and Jacob own all the land. Anyone else there are not owners, nor do they have any right to the land.

pray